The Music Box
by Niu Shiy-Ue
Summary: Seto receives a gift that brings back memories. Is it too late to correct a mistake? Implied incest, don't like, don't read.


Title: The Music Box

Author: Niu Shiy-Ue

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, it wouldn't be kid appropriate (actually, it isn't very kid appropriate as is, but it would definitely be worse)

Warnings: Implied yaoicest, but this is fairly tame

Rating: PG (I said it was tame)

Pairings: pre-SetoxMokuba

Spoilers: Nada

Summary: It's been seven years since Seto drove Mokuba away. He goes to find him again.

Seto scowled at the sight that greeted him when he got home. Once again, the staff managed to completely decorate the house without him noticing. Not that he was in much of a position to, he often spent days, even weeks at Kaiba Corp. He wouldn't even be home now, except frankly there was nothing he could do today. Most of his employees were gone on vacation and the Western world was in full swing this holiday season, which meant he couldn't conduct any business with those companies either. The only good thing about this season, he thought sourly, is that increases more than any other time of year.  
And he didn't think that made up for all the 'Christmas Spirit', which meant ever lame-brained idiot sending absurd greetings or begging for money or trying to get him to 'loosen up' thought they were entitled to waste his time.

He ignored the lights strewn about the mansion, the cheery jingle his door bell had become (was it just him or did the service get even worse this season?) and even the tree that had been prominently set up and tastefully decorated with white lights and tinsel in his living room. The staff took his arrival as their cue to leave, earlier attempts at getting the boss into the 'Christmas Spirit' had only lead to very quick dismissals. Kaiba had no patience for the season and even less for those who attempted to foist it onto him.

He glared at the tree and briefly considered toppling it, just to get it out of his vision, but reconsidered. It was too much work, not to mention the lights might catch something on fire. He settled for just glaring at it, and if the tree hadn't already been dead, it would have been six feet under by that point.

Every year it was the same. Spend the entire month of December in the office, working through the various shortages and meetings and lawsuits and problems of the busiest time of year, then come home for two days to see that the entire mansion's turned upside down. Get drunk, sleep for two days then everything goes back to normal. That had been Kaiba's Christmas routine for the past seven years, ever since-

He cut himself off. He would not think about that.

He got up and shuffled off to the liquor cabinet. But when he got there, he was surprised. On the table beside the cabinet was a small package, already opened and brightly stamped with Security's 'Approved' notice. A small letter, sans a return address was on top.

Seto never received personal mail. If someone wanted to contact him,  
they either e-mailed or called. What few letters he did receive were invariably about business and thus were routed to Kaiba Corp. He briefly wondered who was trying to suck up to him and opened the package.

It was a music box. Finely crafted ebony inlaid with a mother-of-pearl image of a galleon on a stormy sea, when he opened it, it started to play a section of 'Ave Maria'. And very familiar. Seto barely made it back into the living room before collapsing on the couch. He closed his eyes, helpless before the onslaught of memories.

Flashback

"I think this one is the best one so far."

"It looks gaudy." Seto and Mokuba were curled up on their couch,  
staring at the tree. It was covered in flashing multicolored lights,  
tinsel and Mokuba's childhood efforts at arts and crafts were displayed in prime spots. It was a riot of color and indeed, looked somewhat gaudy, especially against the staid background of mansion.  
But Seto tolerated it anyway, because Mokuba liked it. "Are you going to be home tomorrow?"

"I'll try. I've got a lot of work though, so don't get your hopes up"  
For the next few minutes the brothers sat in silence. Mokuba slid down so his head was on Seto's lap and the older man began to stroke the long black hair. Seto smirked, was his brother actually purring? "You should go to bed."

"But I like it here with you. Besides" Mokuba sat up. "If you're not going to be here tomorrow, I should give you your present tonight."

"You don't have to get me anything." said Seto as Mokuba left the room.

"But I want to." He returned with a box about the length of his forearm, somewhat badly wrapped in silver. Inside was a tanto, about 30 cm, with a lacquered wood hilt inset with silver and a blade polished to almost mirror-like sheen. This wasn't a cheap trinket, the blade was balanced, of good steel and sharp enough to act as a weapon.  
"Mokuba, where did you get this?"

His brother blushed and ducked his head. "Around."

"Mokuba . . . "

"It's not illegal. I was thinking of getting you a Derringer, but-"

"I'm glad you didn't. But if your going to give me my present early, I should do the same." With that Seto handed over another box, smaller and professionally done in red and gold. Insided was a music box, when Mokuba opened it, it began to play 'Ave Maria'. "Niisama, it's lovely.  
"I knew you'd like it."

"I don't like it." Mokuba carefully set down the music box on the coffee table. "I love it!" He launched himself at his taller brother and wrapped his arms around him. For a few moments they stayed that way, reveling in their companionship. Then Mokuba leaned up and brushed his lips across Seto's. The older Kaiba violently pushed him away. "What the hell was that for?"

Mokuba looked downward, away from his brother. "I'm sorry Niisama. I was just so happy about your gift, I got carried away. It didn't mean anything." The blush on his cheeks and the tears in his eyes gave away Mokuba's lie.

"You're sick!" With that, Seto stomped out of the room.

End Flashback

That was the last time he had seen Mokuba. He had gone back to KC the next day and stayed there for the rest of Mokuba's vacation. Mokuba hadn't been home since. For a while they had kept in contact, via e-mail and phone, but by the time of Mokuba's graduation (which Seto had not attended) their communications had dwindled down to a single monthly e-mail, which sounded more like a business report than a letter between two brothers. After college it was if his younger brother had dropped of the face of the earth, he never heard or saw from him again. No private investigators ever found a trace of Mokuba Kaiba and even financially, he had stopped using any Kaiba resources or accounts the day he graduated. The last thing Seto knew about his brother was that he had graduated Cum Laude in Literature and had cleaned out one of his accounts.

They had never spoken about what had happened that night, and Seto regretted that. He wished he had apologized and explained his reaction, maybe then his brother would still be here. Hell, he wished he had just shut up and accepted the kiss! But he hadn't, instead he had ruined the one opportunity he had had to make a dream come true and it wouldn't come again. He looked up at the gift's partner,  
displayed on the mantle. 'This must be Mokuba's way of showing that he'd finally cut all bonds between us.' Seto thought. Depressed, he briefly considered just throwing away the letter, but decided to see what his brother had to say to him.

To his surprise, instead of the familiar messy kanji, there was neatly written English.

"Kaiba-

This belongs to you. I thought you'd want it back."

Who had sent the letter? And how would whoever it is know that the box belonged to him? And even worse, how had whoever gotten it in the first place? If Mokuba hadn't sent it to him . . . was Mokuba hurt? Or dead? Why else would they be sending personal effects to him?

The bottom seemed to drop out of Seto's world. Bad enough if Mokuba had decided to discard him, but even worse if he was . . . Seto swallowed the lump that had appeared in his throat. There was only one way to find out.

Scene Change

Seto couldn't believe how noisy the Kame Game shop was and wondered if Yuugi would even hear his knock over the sound of the party. He had no intention of standing there all night, just to get an address. If Yuugi didn't open the door in five minutes he was calling the police to report a public disturbance. That would serve the erstwhile Game King right!

Fortunately for Kaiba (and perhaps even more fortunate for Yuugi)  
someone did hear and answer the door. A four year old, barely more than a meter tall (not counting the infamous Motou hair) someone.  
"Sakuya, who's at the door?"

"A really scary man, Chichiue."

Yuugi hustled his daughter away at that point. "Merry Christmas Kaiba.  
Is there something I could help you with?" he asked warily. Having Kaiba show up at the shop usually meant bad news.

"Yuugi, where's my brother?"

The spiky-haired man looked at him suspiciously but the expression melted into a happy grin. "So your finally taking my advice, huh?"

"None of your business! But if you don't know where he is, just say so!"

Yuugi held up his hands defensively. "Woah, woah, I never said I wouldn't help you. Just wait a minute and I'll write it down for you.  
While your waiting, do you want to come in?"

"No"

"Okay" Yuugi left him standing at the door to dart into the kitchen. A few minutes later he came back. "Here it is. Not that far away."

Seto glanced at it then tucked it into his pocket. "Thank you Yuugi"  
he said through gritted teeth. Even after all this time, it still galled him to be in debt to the Game King.

"No problem!" The other responded. And as Kaiba turned away and walked back to his car. "And good luck!"

Scene Change

To Seto's surprise, the door opened right away when he knocked.  
Unfortunately, the look on Mokuba's face did not bode well for this meeting. Seto pushed against the door to prevent it from being slammed in his face. "Please, just listen to me."

For a second, Mokuba remained defiant. But some of the desperation Kaiba felt must have shown on his face because the other softened, and opened the door a little wider. "Just for a little while. I'm expecting someone." Seto looked around. The apartment was in a good area, but very small. To his surprise, there weren't any holiday decorations at all, a welcome change from rest of the world, but disturbing because this had once been Mokuba's favorite holiday.  
Notebooks and furniture had all been shoved into the corners, to make room for the table for two in the middle. Seto felt a brief flash of jealousy for whoever the romantic setting was for, then quickly suppressed it. He had given up the right to feel jealous seven years ago. Blue eyes tore away from the center of the room to look around instead. "You have all of books by E. M. Rozenkreuz."

Mokuba paused from clearing a place to sit on the sofa. "How did you get this address anyway?"

"From Yuugi."

"I guess he didn't tell you much."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm E. M. Rozenkreuz."

Seto focused his shocked gaze on his brother. "You are?" He took in Mokuba's changed appearance. The long hair had been cut short, but otherwise he hadn't really changed from when Seto had last seen him.  
There were differences, not just in the hair, but especially in attitude. Mokuba seemed more mature and less cheerful. The bright colors he had been so fond of had been replaced by a black and white wardrobe; black slacks and vest and a white poet shirt. The one concession to the holiday was a sprig of holly above Mokuba's right ear. His only other ornament was a large dreamcatcher hung around his neck. "I would never have expected you to become a writer."

The younger man didn't respond to that. "Why are you here?" he asked instead.

Long fingers fumbled, unwrapping brown paper. "I received this today.  
At first, at first I thought it meant you had finally burned all your bridges. And then I read the letter that came with it and realized it wasn't from you at all. I thought something must have happened to you,  
that you were hurt or injured. And then I realized I couldn't decide which felt worse, thinking you had finally rid yourself of me, or thinking that I hadn't been able to protect you like I always said I would."

"Seto-"

"I looked for you. After the first two years, I decided if I couldn't find you, you didn't want to be found. Then Yuugi told me he knew exactly where you were and all I had to do was ask. But I didn't. I didn't want to be indebted to him again and more, I wanted you to come to me. Tonight I realized, you had no reason to come back, I made it pretty clear I didn't want you. And when I thought it might be too late, too late for us to at least reconcile, I thought I wanted to die. I came here, not knowing what to expect except that it would be bad."

He finished unwrapping the package. Inside were the music box and the tanto. "And now I'm here and you're fine and I can only assume you sent this to me to tell me you've finally given up on me. And I want this opportunity to tell you I'm sorry. Sorry about everything. Sorry about not protecting you from Gozaburo, sorry for the Death-T, sorry for Pegasus and Noa." Seto took a deep breath. "I'm especially sorry for the last time I saw you. I shouldn't have done that. I should have apologized."

Softly Mokuba whispered back. "It's not your fault. I thought you never wanted to see me again."

"I did. Want to see you again, that is." Seto looked down at the two objects. "So I came here with these things. And this time I'm not going to be a coward."

"What do you mean?"

"Last time . . . last time I pushed you away because I couldn't face how I really felt."

"How you really felt?"

"I couldn't face the fact that I felt the same way."

Mokuba looked like he had just been punched. "You-you what?"

"I loved, no, love you too. Not just as a brother but as a lover. I had spent so much time suppressing it, then you finally gave me what I wanted. And I threw it away. I-" he raised the two gifts from his lap.  
"I know it's probably too late. So I'm here to give you a choice. If you don't want anything more to do with me, take back the tanto and I'll stay away. But if you forgive me, even if you don't love me anymore, take the music box. And this time, I'll try. If all you want is to be friends or just brothers, I'll accept that."

Mokuba reached out, hand trembling between the two objects. For a moment it dipped down and he almost touched the tanto, but then he stopped. "And if I wanted more?"

"More?"

"More than just being friends or brothers?" Seto hesitated. He knew what his brother was asking. He could let him go, but did he have the courage to stay. There was no question, he had lost his opportunity once, if Mokuba was willing to give him another chance, then he was going to use all of his famed stubbornness and hold on to it. "I still love you" he said. Then repeated it louder. "I love you."

Mokuba finished his aborted movement and picked up the music box. "I love you too. For a moment, I really thought it was too late, that you had finally hurt me enough. But I guess what I told Yuugi was right.  
You really are my life."

"And you are mine. Since you left, it's felt like there was nothing inside me."

"I know what you mean." For a few minutes they just sat there in silence, then Mokuba started to giggle.

"What's so funny?"

"It's not you. It's just, Ryou wanted to take this" he held up the ebony box. "To an antique dealer and have this appraised. He said he was going to return it tonight."

Seto felt like hitting himself. "I'm an idiot. The note that came with this was written in English. Who else would send me a letter in perfect English? Was he the one you were waiting for?"

"Yeah. Come to think of it, he's late."

Kaiba thought back, and remembered seeing Bakura's car at the Kame Game Shop. "Damn, I think we've been set up."

Seto's Tanto:  
20Photos/Large20Knife20Photos/Tanto201620Lg.jpg

And I apologize to everyone whose waiting for the next part of Empty Sands. I'm taking a hiatus from all my multi-chapter fics for a while.

Niu Shiy-Ue

SNIPPET

JOEY: (at the top of his lungs) KAIBA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER!  
COMING HOME FROM OUR HOUSE CHRISTMAS EVE!

YUUGI: Joey, you shouldn't be singing that!

TEA: Yeah, what if Kaiba hears?

J: Yeah, like what's ole Moneybags gonna do about it? YOU MAY SAY THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS SANTA- (black limo zooms out of no where and strikes Joey)

TRISTAN: Yeah, I think we all expected that to happen. 


End file.
